Tesla Has A.C. Epiphany

February, 1882

Tesla, obsessed with solving the riddle of A.C., suffers a mental breakdown and isn't expected to live. A short time later, Tesla begins to recover and during a walk in the Varosliget city park of Budapest with friend Anthony Szigety, the solution comes to Tesla in a vision. In his recollection of the event, Tesla states that he looked at the setting sun and began to recite a passage from Goethe's Faust. At that very moment the idea came to him in a flash and he drew a diagram of the motor in the sand with a stick.

Tesla Takes Job In Paris

April, 1882

Tesla and his good friend Anthony Szigety accepted positions with the Continental Edison Company, which had recently been started in Paris. Tesla worked for Charles Batchelor at the Ivry-sur-Seine lamp factory and installed lighting systems in the Paris Opera House and a theater in Bavaria. He submitted a plan for improving the Edison dynamos to Mr. Rau, an administrator for the company. The plan was approved and soon Tesla's automatic regulator was gratefully accepted. Tesla was likely expecting to be compensated but was dispatched to Strasbourg before payment was awarded.